“A civilised and prosperous society such as ours should support its most vulnerable and elderly citizens.”
These were the words of Chancellor George Osborne in his comprehensive spending review just short of 100 days ago.
They are words that now may come back to haunt him as the social care system struggles to meet even some of the most basic needs of disabled and older people while at the same time there is an ever-increasing numbers of people who need the support of that very same system.
In November, the Chancellor gave local authorities the power to raise council tax by 2% in order to raise monies for social care. This money will be ring-fenced and protected for social care and take the form of a precept.
At the same time, he announced that in the 2017/2018 Budget he would allocate a further £700million investment in the Better Care Fund. The idea behind this increase is to allow councils to apply for additional monies from next year, to ease the pressure in those areas where the precept hasn’t raised enough money to cover the cost of increasing demands on social care provision.
The rhetoric was welcome. The reality is that there are still gaping holes in the social care system.
The truth is that the introduction of the social care precept didn’t go far enough. The precept alone can only raise a maximum of £5billion in this parliament. No actual money was promised in the 2016/2017 financial year from the Treasury.
Papworth Trust maintains its belief that existing central government investment should pay for the social care that provides a lifeline for our nation’s most vulnerable disabled and older people.
Isn’t this the exact spending commitment the Chancellor alluded to in the CSR when he said that “to fund the things we want the Government to provide in the modern world, we have to be prepared to provide the resources”.
Increased central government spending on social care is, by the Chancellor’s own admission, exactly what the government should be doing.
With the advancement in medication leading to prolonged life expectancy, the challenge of dealing with the ageing population is a defining one for this generation of Parliamentarians.
However, starving the social care system of money, as the government continues to do, risks its very survival. We must never forget that behind every statistic and arbitrary figure are people whose lives are deeply affected by the limitations of the current system.
Over 900,000 people in England currently have unmet social care needs either because the eligibility criteria was changed, or because there isn’t enough money to provide them with support to get out of bed or to wash, dress and feed themselves.
It is why the social care system is running on life support.
Without significant upfront investment, we may very well see a care provider fail. We cannot let that happen.
The Treasury has already earmarked central government funding money for social care but have delayed its implementation.
So on March 16th in the Budget, Papworth Trust is calling on the Chancellor to bring forward his planned £1.5billion investment in the Better Care Fund which may just about save social care. For now.